‘KM Malta’ fails in being treated as new airline by booking agents

Whenever a new airline starts selling tickets, third-party booking agents create a new, unique database entry for that airline.

However, on many third-party platforms, this appears not to be the case for KM Malta Airlines Limited, Malta’s supposedly all-new national airline.

“This is neither a new start nor a seamless transition, it’s a mess”, a former Air Malta senior official told this newsroom when asked for comment.

The government’s new company has not yet legally obtained usage rights for the Air Malta brand from the same government.

Research by this newsroom has found that tickets for flights from 31 March 2024 offered on numerous platforms are still attributed to the ‘old’ Air Malta.

Meanwhile, the long mismanaged Air Malta Plc – which will cease operations on 30 March 2024 – continues to sell tickets for flights until that date.

In some cases, even already outdated logo versions of the current national airline company can be found when actually booking with KM Malta Airlines Limited.

“Air Malta”, “KM Malta Airlines Limited”, “Air Malta, operated by KM Malta Airlines Limited” are the variations currently used for ticket offers beyond 30 March.

This suggests that the new company has also failed to clearly communicate to its business partners to make a clear distinction to flights operated by Air Malta Plc.

It’s also able to fuel further confusion among customers as the ‘old’ Air Malta reiterated on Monday that all of its flights from 31 March 2024 are cancelled.

Third parties blamed

KM Malta Airlines Limited has put the blame solely on the IT systems of its business partners, the booking agents.

“The technical infrastructure of the third party booking platforms fall under the control of the relevant third party and as such other parties cannot interfere with their systems to amend such”, it said.

“The new KM Malta Airlines logo has already been distributed to many third parties but unfortunately many are reporting that their systems cannot be amended to reflect the different logos”, the new company claimed.

“Utter rubbish”, the former Air Malta official told Bonġu, adding that any new airline operator had the right and means to be recognised as such.

In case of airline mergers or acquisitions, it has always been up to the operator to have a distinct database relation created, the insider said.

Adding a new airline to a database, together with an up-to-date logo and contact information, was a matter of hours, they added.

On Monday morning, KM Malta Airlines Limited even failed to publish its flight schedule before opening its booking callcentre.